


Feeling Closer Being Closer

by Kaylele



Series: Haikyuu Soulmate AU (The Asanoya Series) [3]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Emotions, Fluff, How Do I Tag, Multi, Weird Biology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:46:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22798783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kaylele/pseuds/Kaylele
Summary: Soulmates are supposed to be close, but are Asahi and Nishinoya too close?Aka: a whole fic about weird soulmate biology, evolutions and mutations.
Relationships: Azumane Asahi/Nishinoya Yuu
Series: Haikyuu Soulmate AU (The Asanoya Series) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1606015
Comments: 17
Kudos: 82





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is super weird and might not make too much sense but it'll make more sense later, I promise.

“You feel frustrated.”

It wasn’t a question, but rather a statement. A quiet observation if you will. Nishinoya had been trying to make pancakes for over an hour but kept messing them up each time. He stood by the stove, spatula in hand, staring over the now burnt breakfast. His shoulders were tense, his eyes overly focused and his knuckles white from his grip on the counter. 

“I’m not frustrated,” Noya huffed. 

“Yes you are,” Asahi said back, softly. “C’mon, let’s just go out for breakfast instead.”

He grabbed the spatula and pan from his soulmate and put them in the sink before leading him back into their bedroom. Nishinoya sat on the bed and watched Asahi as he got dressed. He felt dumb and stupid. How could he be so bad at making pancakes, he wondered to himself. 

“Stop being so hard on yourself.” Asahi tried to reassure him. “Cooking is hard. You’re not gonna make perfect pancakes on your first try.” 

“But I tried like 10 times!” 

“It takes more than 10 times, Yuu-Chan,”

The taller boy turned around, staring at his boyfriend. Despite his anger and frustration, he looked rather cute. The adorable pout that was spread across his face wasn’t doing him any good. Asahi sat on the bed next to Noya and pulled the smaller boy into his arms. He could feel Noya's mood change from frustrated to angry to disappointed all in a short few minutes. They went out to eat that day and Asahi promised he'd teach Nishinoya how to make pancakes later on. 

But that was just one of many instances

******************

To say that their relationship was weird would be an understatement. Usually soulmates knew each other very well but Asahi and Nishinoya seemed to know each other too well. Asahi had never been able to lie to Noya. Ever since they first met the short, energetic boy would always call him out on it. Even if it was the tiniest, most insignificant lie that no one else would catch, Nishinoya would catch it. 

Asahi on the other hand could always tell when Nishinoya was getting upset. Even if he had the biggest smile plastered across his face, Asahi could always see through it. Everyone assumed it was just because they were close, (they were soulmates after all) but their closeness could only explain so much. The two boys thought the extent of their strange abilities would stop there, but it didn't. Slowly, over time they began to evolve. So slowly in fact that it was difficult for them to notice. 

There were many nights when Asahi would jolt awake with the strange feeling that something was wrong, only to find Nishinoya in the middle of a bad dream. Most days Nishinoya could judge how Asahi was feeling simply by looking at him. After a while Asahi could tell when Nishinoya was lying and a few months later Nishinoya was the one jolting awake to find Asahi halfway through a nightmare. Slowly, the phrase "you seem happy" turned into "you feel happy" but despite all this, everything still felt normal. The hadn't even noticed. 

Maybe it was because of how natural it felt. Their bodies and minds were on full display for one another 24/7 and sometimes it seemed they knew each other better than they knew themselves. Knowing each other's feelings was just another layer of understanding, right? Or at least that's how they saw it. 

It wasn't until they were around other people, other soulmates to be precise, that they began to see how strange it was. 

"Daichi never tells me how he feels!"   
"Kenma and Kuroo lied to me!"   
"Tsukishima won't tell me when he's upset!" 

Deep down they both knew these things were supposed to be relatable. They were supposed to have these types of problems too but they didn't. For the time being they just assumed that their lack of issues was a good thing. They didn't bother to stop and question it. That is… until Tanaka called them out on it. 

***********************

It was a cold, rainy afternoon and Tanaka and Nishinoya were couped up inside watching old horror movies and drinking hot chocolate. Asahi had, for about the 3rd time that day, called Nishinoya out on how he felt and Tanaka had become thoroughly weirded out by the whole ordeal. 

"Nishinoya-San," Tanaka had spoken up when Asahi retreated back into the kitchen for something, "Don’t you find that kinda weird?" 

"Do I find what weird?" The shorter boy asked, his eyes still plastered to the screen in front of them. 

"Asahi always knowing exactly how you feel. I mean… it’s not like he can really tell how you feel all the time, right?" 

Nishinoya merely shrugged.

"I tell him how he feels all the time."

"Ok, but you can't really tell how he feels either, can you?" 

Nishinoya fell silent, thinking about the question. 

"I can actually… I think." 

Tanaka stared at him, confused. 

"I mean… can't you tell when your soulmate is happy or sad or something?" The shorter boy asked. 

"Well yeah but… I mean- I can guess. It's pretty easy to guess.. but I obviously don’t KNOW." 

Nishinoya shrugged again and changed the subject back to the movie but the question still lingered in the back of his mind. 

"...You can't really tell how he feels… can you?" 

'Could I', he wondered to himself. It certainly felt like he could, but maybe Tanaka was right. Maybe he couldn't. Maybe it was all just guess work.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Poor Asahi just wants sleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so short. It's a lot of dialogue though.

Asahi could feel it that night as they laid in bed together. Nishinoya was thinking too much, giving off an overwhelming amount of emotions. Nervousness, confusion, worry, frustration, irritation. The whirlwind of feelings made his stomach flip and set him on edge. 

“Yuu,” The taller boy whispered into the darkness, pulling his soulmate closer. “What’s the matter?” 

“Nothing…” Noya whispered back, settling against him. He tried to calm his racing thoughts but there were too many to control. 

“It’s not nothing… You feel uneasy.”

There was a long silence that passed between them and for a brief moment, all they could hear was the ticking clock that hung on the wall. 

“Can you really feel it?” The shorter boy finally asked.

“What do you mean?” 

“You always say that I feel a certain way but.. Can you really feel it?” 

“I think so…” 

Nishinoya sat up quickly and turned on their lamp before facing Asahi. His face was gentle and calm and his eyes sparkled but they were outmatched by the anxiousness that radiated off of him. 

“You can really feel it?” He asked again, his voice light and breathy. 

Asahi thought about the question again before nodding carefully. 

"I can… I can kind of feel what you feel, I think. When you're sad or happy…" 

His voice trailed off leaving the room in silence once again. Nishinoya stared at him, waiting for a slightly better explanation but when none came he spoke up again. 

"What does it feel like?" 

Asahi sighed and sat up rubbing his eyes. It was nearly midnight and Nishinoya picked now to talk about weird soulmate feeling stuff. Part of him just wanted to go to bed but the other part was ever so slightly intrigued. 

"I guess…" Asahi stopped for a second and tried to gather his thoughts, "it kinda just feels like more emotions… but they're not mine. They're all coming from you… it's.. I guess it's like you're just radiating emotions.. and I just pick up on them." 

Nishinoya nodded slowly, seeming to understand. Some of his anxious energy had dissipated, making the air around them calmer. 

“I feel like that too.” The shorter boy whispered softly. “You radiate a lot of nervous energy.”

Asahi rolled his eyes and pulled Nishinoya back down onto the bed with him. 

“C’mon, it’s nearly midnight. We have to go to bed.”

“But Asahi.” Noya whined, “I wanna know more.”

“Why are you so interested in this?" 

"Why are you not?" The shorter boy pushed himself up a little so he could stare into his boyfriend's eyes. "Asahi this is… weird" 

His voice trailed off as he thought about it. Tanaka's words began swirling around in his head again. 'Weird'. Was it really that weird? There were tons of things that could be weirder, like reading minds or having more than one soulmate. Now those were weird… but this?

"Yuu," Asahi's gentle voice pulled him away from his thoughts. "It's not that weird. I mean, I'm sure lots of soulmates can do the exact same thing." 

"Tanaka and his soulmate can't." Noya whispered. 

"Tanaka has only been with her for a couple years."

"Daichi and Suga can't either… and they're even closer than us." 

Asahi rolled his eyes. 

"Just because our friends can't do it too doesn't mean there aren't other people who can." 

"Can you name anyone else who can?" Noya teased.

"Yuu, the world has like 7 billion people. I'm sure we're not the only ones who can do this." 

"Aren't you at least curious though!" Noya exclaimed, bouncing up and down excitedly, making the bed creak. "C'mon, can't we at least look it up or test it out or do something? Doesn't this interest you at all? I mean we can FEEL each other's emotions. Isn't that at least a little weird or exciting or something?" 

Asahi let out a little sigh. He couldn't deny that it was odd. After all he didn't know anyone else who could actually feel their soulmates emotions, but then again it's not like he knew that many people anyways. The thought of testing all of this stuff out with Nishinoya did seem like fun though, if only he was more awake. 

"I guess but.." Asahi finally admitted, "but can't we at least wait until the morning to test stuff out? It's almost 12:30." 

Nishinoya let out a little giggle and kissed the tip of Asahi's nose. 

"Fine.. but only cause you feel so sleepy." 

'Thank God', Asahi thought as he turned off the lamp and wrapped his arms around his soulmate. He would definitely have his work cut out for him in the morning, but for now he could rest comfortably with his boyfriend cuddled into his side.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a tiny bit sad and it has a lot of dialogue.

For Asahi, morning seemed to come all too soon. Perhaps it was because something (or someone) prevented him from falling asleep until 12:30 or maybe it was due to the fact that he was in no way, shape, or form, a morning person. Nethertheless, the blinding morning sun and smell of fresh coffee seemed to force him away from his slumber. The space on the bed next to him was empty as always. Knowing Nishinoya, he was probably up hours ago. Asahi could never understand how a person who got so little sleep could manage to have so much energy, especially in the morning. 

Then he could feel it. A wave of excitable energy settling across their house, creeping into the bedroom through the crack in the door. A small smile spread across Asahi's face as he got out of bed. If there was one single thing that could melt his heart, it was the amazing smile Nishinoya gave him every time he was overly excited about something. 

Quickly he threw on a pair of sweats and made his way out of the bedroom. Nishinoya was sitting at their dining room table, drinking coffee and looking at something in his laptop. The taller boy quietly snuck up behind him and wrapped his arms around him. 

"Asahi-Chan!" Nishinoya chimed happily, "you're awake." 

Asahi nodded and buried his face into his soulmates messy hair. It was incredibly soft and smelled like strawberries and coconut. 

"What are you looking up?"

The smaller boy turned his laptop so that his boyfriend could see. Displayed on the screen was an article from an old medical journal about soulmates. Asahi's eyes scanned the screen, trying to pinpoint what it was about without actually having to read it.

*Female age 33*   
*Husband works as a professional boxer*   
*Reports of unexplainable pain*   
*Blah blah blah* 

"This was the closest thing I could find." Nishinoya mumbled softly, taking a sip from his coffee cup. 

"The closest thing to what?" Asahi asked, still too tired to put all the pieces together. 

"To us." 

Noya set his cup down and opened up a new tab on his computer so that he could type something into the search bar. 

"I've looked everywhere. News journals, blogs, government records, even old medical archives and this was the closest thing I could find to us… and it's not even that close." 

"What do you mean it's not close?" 

"We can feel each other's emotions. This woman, her name was Marie, could feel all of her husband's pain."

"Could he feel hers?" Asahi asked, concerned. 

Nishinoya shook his head and exited out of that tab. 

"The rest of it is just sad, but that's not the point." 

"What is the point?" 

"We're really weird, that's the point." 

Noya turned around in his chair so he could face his soulmate. His energy had changed, from excited and happy to agitated and scared. 

"There's no other reported cases like us, Asahi. And no, before you say it, this isn't normal." 

Asahi sighed and ran a hand through his soulmates hair. He couldn't understand why he was so worked up about this. 

"Yuu-Chan" the taller boy said softly, hugging his boyfriend close. "It's ok if we're different. It's not going to change anything. We'll just be even closer." 

Nishinoya pulled away and bit his lip. His eyes were filled with worry.

"What if something does change…" he asked softly. 

"Nothing's going to change. I promise." Asahi tried to assure him. 

"You can't promise that."

"Why not? What could possibly change?" 

"Us… this weird thing we can do…" 

"I don't think it can get any weirder than this." 

"It might." Noya said, turning back to his laptop. "there's more cases like this. Soulmates who could read each other's minds or see through each other's eyes. There was one pair who couldn't get tattoos because everything they wrote on themselves showed up on their soulmates skin. Most of them are progressing cases." 

"Progressing cases?" Asahi asked, confused. 

"It's where their abilities start off really small and then escalate into something a lot bigger. We fall under that category too." 

"Yuu, even if we are a progressing case, what difference does it make? I mean I don't think we could possibly progress anymore, right?" 

"Maybe," Nishinoya sighed softly. "But a lot of cases progress too much and…" 

His voice trailed off for a moment, while he struggled to maintain his composure. Asahi could feel a mixture of fear and sadness wavering off of him. It made his heart ache to feel his soulmate like this. He desperately wanted to fix it but he didn't know how. 

"Lots of cases end badly." Noya finally mumbled softly. "They get hurt or sick or… or worse… I've only seen a few that have turned out ok." 

"Hey," Asahi spun Nishinoya's chair around so that he could stare into his eyes. "Don't worry so much ok? Even if we are a progressing case, we'll be fine. We've made it this far, haven't we? I don't think there's much more that can change." 

Asahi's voice wasn't at all confidant, but the feelings he was giving off definitely were and tey made Nishinoya feel a little bit better about their situation. Asahi pulled Nishinoya up from his chair and encapsulated him in a warm hug. He pulled back for just a moment to press a kiss to the boy's forehead and then his lips. 

"Why don't we make breakfast," The taller boy suggested, "then we can test stuff out and do more research." 

Noya nodded and pulled Asahi down so that he could kiss him again. His worry and fear had mostly vanished at the idea of pancakes and bacon for breakfast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here on out there's gonna be a lot of weird biology stuff and experimentation. A lot of it will be cute or perhaps a little sexy. 😉


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nishinoya and Asahi run all their soulmate tests and it turns out Nishinoya has an irrational fear, of sorts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this chapter is so late 😵😥 I've been swamped with assignments

Asahi was getting nervous. Somehow he didn't think the "tests" and "experiments" Nishinoya wanted to run would involve him slowly having his senses stripped away until he couldn't hear or see anything.

"What kind of tests are these again?" Asahi asked. 

"Stress test." Nishinoya chimed, "at least that's what the internet called them. They're supposed to measure the strength of your abilities or something like that." 

'Stress test', Asahi repeated in his head. It seemed as though the 'stress' part was already working. 

Nishinoya handed Asahi a stopwatch along with a small piece of paper and a pen. 

"Every minute you just gotta write down what I'm feeling. Our stopwatches are already synced so the timing shouldn't be messed up. I'm gonna write stuff down too, just to keep track." 

Asahi nodded, carefully absorbing all of the information while Nishinoya placed a pair of giant earmuffs on his head. The world around him went silent and his soulmate disappeared from his line of sight. He watched as the clock started ticking away and then he started feeling them. 

Waves of emotions began wavering towards him, small at first and then growing bigger and bigger as the time went on. At the start of each minute the emotion would disappear and a new one would take its place. All of his focus was directed at the paper that sat in front of him as he continued to write down emotion after emotion until pretty soon the paper was filled up. Happiness, sadness, nervousness, anger, fear, love, pity, and many more littered the paper. 

A small tap on his shoulder signaled that their first experiment was done. He took the clunky earmuffs off as Nishinoya sat next to him. Together they looked over the notes they had taken. 

"They look practically identical," Asahi mentioned. 

"So it looks like we can rule out hearing." The shorter boy mumbled as he crossed off something in his notebook, "the next test is eyesight."

"But I already couldn't see you." 

"Yeah but you could see everything else." 

"What does that matter?" 

Nishinoya rolled his eyes. 

"99% of weird abilities are sense based, which means we have to rule out every single sense until we find out which one it is. Besides, just because you couldn't see me doesn't mean it's not sight based. We have to get rid of all your sight." 

"What if none of them are based on senses though?" Asahi asked, "I mean… even if you're not in the house at all, I can still kinda feel you." 

"Oh, can you now~" Noya teased, as he tied the blindfold around him. 

"You know what I mean." 

"Do I?" 

"You're making it hard to focus." Asahi complained. 

"I'm not doing anything~" 

"You feel horny."

"What can I say? I love a man in a blindfold." 

Asahi's eye roll went virtually unnoticed as Nishinoya explained the next set of rules to him. Each test was pretty much the same. Every minute Nishinoya would change his emotion and Asahi would write it down. As soon as the test ended they would compare notes until pretty soon it was Nishinoya's turn to do all the tests. 

"This doesn't make any sense," Noya pouted after all their tests were complete. 

The results were sprawled out on the table in front of them, each set of papers organized accordingly. Every single set was practically identical.

"Maybe our ability isn't based off of senses?" Asahi offered. 

"But they should be! Practically all of the other ones are!" 

"Yuu," Asahi sighed, "we probably shouldn't be relying on tests like these anyway." 

"Why not? These are the same tests everyone else uses." 

"I know but.. they just don't seem very accurate. Wouldn't going to like an actual laboratory to get tests done be better?" 

"I don't think there are actual labs that test this kinda stuff." 

"There has to be one somewhere. I mean, who even developed these tests? And who wrote papers about all of the other stuff you found?" 

Nishinoya shrugged. He wasn't exactly the best at looking for authors or organizations or even really website links. He more so just clicked on anything that sounded relevant and took down as much information possible. It was a miracle that he managed to get through college without getting cited for plagiarism. Asahi rolled his eyes. 

"There has to be somewhere where we can get actual tests done." 

"I think these tests are just fine." Nishinoya huffed. 

"You just don't wanna go to a lab." 

"What, no! I just… ok maybe." 

"Yuu-" 

"Labs are scary and weird ok. They always have brains in jars and evil scientists trying to steal your organs and stuff." 

Asahi chuckled, earning a glare from his boyfriend. 

"You watch too many science fiction movies." He said, pulling Noya onto his lab. 

"Do not…" 

"C'mon Yuu, evil scientists don't actually exist," 

"You don't know that." 

"Well.." Asahi began leaving a small trail of kisses down Nishinoya's neck. "If they do exist, I'll always be there to protect you." 

"But what if they hurt you.. or worse! What if they steal your kidneys!" 

"I won't let any of that happen. I promise." 

Noya contemplated for a moment before sighing and finally giving in. 

"Fine… but if I see ONE brain in a jar, I get to say I told you so." 

"Deal." Asahi agreed, placing a sweet kiss to his lips.


	5. Chapter 5

They searched for weeks, trying to find a lab capable of doing the proper tests on them but it was proving to be quite difficult. Normal labs didn't perform soulmate based tests and the only labs they could find that did were located in America and England. Eventually, though they managed to find one and surprisingly it was Hinata who found it for them. 

The small ginger had come over for the afternoon to hang out and play videogames with Nishinoya while Asahi continued trying to hunt for a lab. It didn't take long for the nosey redhead to figure out what they were trying to do.

"Why don't you guys go to the same one I went to?"

"You went to a lab that does soulmate tests?" Asahi asked. 

"Yeah, it's called The Soulmate Laboratory!" The ginger chimed happily, "it's super cool. It's right in the middle of Tokyo and they have all these cool stories about soulmate stuff and old artifacts and they take you into these giant rooms with machines and do tests and-" 

"Wait a minute!" Nishinoya interrupted, "it's in Tokyo? And you've been there!?" 

"Mhm!" Hinata's nodded, "it's kinda hidden away and not many people know it actually exists." 

"How'd you figure out about it?" Asahi asked. 

"I had to go there with Kenma and Kuroo before our wedding. In Japan, you're not allowed to get married to more than one person unless you can prove that they're your soulmates. Kenma was actually the one who found the place." 

"Ohhh" both boys said in unison. 

Kenma discovering the lab wasn't at all surprising. Between him and Kuroo, they had connections to practically every industry in all of Japan. It probably only took them a few days (maybe even less) to find the place. 

"Wait! So do you need like a recommendation thing or do you just walk in or how does it work!" Noya asked, his voice filling with excitement. 

"You have to fill out a form on their website and turn it in and then they'll call you. Usually it only takes them a few days to get back to you."

It didn't take long for Asahi to find their website. He began filling out the form while Nishinoya and Hinata continued to talk about video games and the lab. 

"What kinda tests did they do on you?" 

"They put these giant helmet things on our heads that took scans of our brains and then they asked us a bunch of questions about how we met and stuff." 

"Really? That's it?" Noya asked, surprised. 

"Yeah, but our test was super easy. They do a bunch of other tests there too. Some of them take a really long time." 

Their conversation went silent as the final boss appeared. Nishinoya's character nearly died while Hinata ended up killing the evil crab monster. 

"How'd you get so good at this?" Nishinoya grumbled.

Hinata shrugged. 

"I play with Kenma a lot." 

"Hey Hinata," Noya whispered softly, his voice nearly drowned out by the victory music. "You said they have artifacts there, right?" 

"Mhm," 

"What kind of artifacts?" 

"Mostly old love letters and stuff like that. They have this one stuffed bear thing that was kinda important but I forgot why." 

"Do they have…" Nishinoya stopped for a moment to peer over the couch, making sure that his soulmate wasn't paying attention to them, "brains?" 

"Brains? …like pictures of brains?" 

"No.. like actual brains.. in jars and stuff." 

Hinata's thought for a moment trying to recount everything he saw when he went there. There was definitely a lot of stuff but he couldn't quite remember if there were brains or not. Finally, he gave up and shrugged.

"I'm not sure. There might have been but I can't really remember." 

Nishinoya held his breath, trying to remain calm. 

'There might have been.'

'Might.' 

The simple word made a chill rush down his spine. 

'Might.' 

It might as well have been a 'yes'. That was it. He couldn't do it. He wouldn't risk going to some evil lab with crazy scientists who wanted to steal his brain and do horrible tests on him. He'd have to call it all off. Tell Asahi no, they couldn't go. He'd rather just wing the rest of their lives than go to some crazy nutjob scientists. 

"Oh!" Hinata's voice broke his train of thought. "I do remember one really cool thing they had there." 

"Hm?" 

"They had this case with these two really old skulls in them and they had identical soulmate marks on them. It was so cool." 

"S-Skulls… like… h-human skulls?" 

"Mhm!" 

Nishinoya nearly fainted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for any weird spelling mistakes! I typed this all out on my phone again.


	6. Chapter 6

It didn't take long for The Soulmate Lab to contact them back and set up an appointment. Asahi had gladly made the last of the arrangements over the phone while Nishinoya was at work. Their appointment was on Saturday which meant they could easily spend the whole weekend in Tokyo and use their extra time to go shopping and sight seeing together. Hinata had recommended him a couple of really good restaurants too, including this amazing Raman place that just so happened to be a few blocks away from the hotel Asahi had booked. Aside from their appointment, their weekend together was slowly starting to look like a romantic getaway. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nishinoya chewed away at his bottom lip as he made his way home from work. It had been three days since Asahi had filled out the paperwork for the lab and as far as he knew they hadn't contacted them at all yet. Half of him was disappointed and the other half relieved. Yes, he wanted to figure out what was wrong with them. He wanted to know if they would be ok; if their symptoms would get worse or not. But the other part of him was terrified. No, it wasn't quite the idea of human brains in jars or mad scientists that had him so freaked out (even though that was pretty scary). He was smart enough to know that those things probably didn't exist. But rather, it was the idea that this lab was probably a lot like a hospital. 

Hospitals, where they stab you with needles and take your blood away. Hospitals, where they stick you in giant, noisy MRI machines and scan your entire body. Hospitals, where they cut you open and fill you with medication and do all kinds of crazy stuff to make you feel "better". 

If Nishinoya feared one single thing in life, it would be hospitals. All of the bugs and snakes and horror movies and real life criminals never phased him. But hospitals… hospitals were scary. Of course, he would never admit that though. Telling Asahi he didn't want to go because "mad scientists would steal his brain" sounded like a much braver excuse than "labs are a lot like hospitals and I think hospitals are scary." 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Yuu-Chan, guess what?" Asahi chimed as soon as his soulmate made his way into their house. 

"Hm?" The smaller boy asked, slipping off his shoes and setting down his stuff. 

"The lab called us back today and I set up an appointment. It's this Saturday at noon." 

Asahi could feel the air around him stiffen as Nishinoya seemed to freeze in place. A small barrage of emotions began wavering towards him. Disappointment, anxiety, fear. 

"Yuu… what's wrong?"

"N-nothing.. it's great. I'm glad." 

A fake smile made its way onto the smaller boys face but Asahi wasn't buying it. Lying was futile in their house. The taller boy stood up and made his way over to his boyfriend, hugging him from behind. 

"Yuu honey, what's the matter?" 

"It's just… M-Maybe we shouldn't go after all. I mean.. were fine right? It's not like we really need to go somewhere to get tested." 

"Yuu-Chan.." 

Asahi turned Nishinoya around so he could look into his eyes. The beautiful brown eyes that were normally filled with excitement and joy were now filled with hesitation and fear. 

"Look, I pinky promise mad scientists aren't real, ok? Nobody is gonna hurt us or try to steal our brains." 

"It's not that.." Noya mumbled, staring at his feet. 

"Then what is it?" 

"It's just…" He hesitated, chewing at his lip again, "I just… I don't like hospitals, ok!" He finally blurted out. "I know it sounds really childish and lame but they really freak me out and if this lab is anything like a hospital then… t-then I don't wanna go.."

Asahi stared at his boyfriend, slightly shocked. Of all the horrible things in the world he could be afraid of, it's hospitals that freak him out? The one place that was supposed to help people get better. Asahi gave him a gentle smile and pulled him into another hug. 

"Labs aren't like hospitals, Yuu, I promise. If anything they're more like doctor's offices." 

Doctor's offices… Nishinoya thought to himself. Doctor's offices weren't so bad. He still didn't like them very much, but they were a lot better than hospitals. At least he had never heard terrible horror stories about them. 

"Doctor's offices aren't so bad, I guess." Noya mumbled, wrapping his arms around his soulmate. 

"See. Besides, they said we'd only be there for a few hours anyways." 

"Wait.. so we're only staying in Tokyo for a couple hours?" 

"Actually, I had a better idea." Asahi said as he ran his fingers through Noya's hair and kissed him on the nose. "I got us a hotel." 

"Really?" 

"Yeah, then we can go sight seeing and spend some time together. We can even visit Hinata-San if we want." 

"Can we go to that Raman place he's always talking about?" 

"Yup, it's only a 5 minute walk from our hotel." 

Nishinoya's face lit up with joy. This was going to be the best weekend ever, if only he could make it through the few hours of torment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for weird spelling errors


	7. Chapter 7

Nishinoya clutched Asahi’s hand as they walked through the sliding glass doors, into the lab. The waiting room was small, only consisting of a few chairs and some outdated magazines. The sound of a small radio tried it’s best to fill the silence but it was no use. The lady at the desk smiled warmly at them and handed Asahi a stack of papers to fill out while they waited. Suddenly Nishinoya felt like a child again, sitting in the doctor’s office while his mother filled out paperwork and occasionally asked him questions. Seeing as how the lab already had all of their important information, these were all just typical questions that you would find on any doctor’s form. 

Are you and/or your soulmate currently sick?  
Have you and/or your soulmate been sick within the last week?  
Do you have any allergies?   
Have either of you been out of the country in the last month?  
Do you have a history of asthma, heart disease, etc.   
Are you currently taking any medications?   
Blah, Blah, Blah, Blah

Noya had gotten bored of the questions rather quickly and tried his best to distract himself with interesting social media posts. He didn’t understand why doctors and scientists needed so much information about people. They were all the same tests anyways, right? What did it matter when your last surgery was or how long it had been since you got sick? It’s not like the doctors cared anyways. 

A lot of random questions later, Asahi had finally finished filling out the form and handed it back to the receptionist lady. It didn't take long for the lab tech to call them back into the testing rooms and from there Nishinoya's interest was instantly piqued. 

There were various different rooms lining the hall, each one with a sign, outlining what test was performed there. In between the rooms were giant, glass cases filled with old love letters, monochrome pictures, long forgotten wedding bands and even the two skulls that Hinata had mentioned. Sure enough, both skulls had the exact same soulmate mark etched into them. Somehow Noya thought it was far more fascinating than creepy. 

"Woah… Asahi-Chan! Look at this!" Noya chimed, skipping off to the end of the hall. 

At the end of the hall there was a giant tv screen that showed a long strand of DNA. About every 10 seconds or so, one section of the DNA would glow blue and a bunch of information would pop up next to it, sometimes with pictures of couples too. 

[Casy and Duncan Miller, 1943-1987. Identical soulmate markings]   
[Tsu and Daiicha Lee, 1967-present. Telepathic connection]   
[Kaisy, Wilson, Iida and Yamamoto Watashi, 1998-present. Identical soulmate syndrome]  
[Shinso and Koiyo Shumazi, 1923-1976. Ocular connection] 

"Ocular connection?" Asahi questioned, stepping closer to the screen. 

"I read about that case!" Nishinoya chimed, "they could see through each other's eyes whenever they wanted to! Isn't that cool!" 

"I feel like it would give you a headache after a while. Are these all just weird soulmate cases?" 

"Yup," the nurse explained, "this is a collection of most of the cases reported to us since 1912, when we were founded. There's only about 150 overall though." 

A new case flashed across the screen that caught both boy's attention. 

[Kenma, Kuroo and Hinata Kozume, 2023-present. Multiple soulmate syndrome] 

"Hinata-Chan's on here too?" 

"Does this mean we get to be on here too?" Nishinoya asked the nurse. 

"If you want to, of course. At the end we have you sign a release form, asking whether you want your information to be published or not." 

"We should totally have it published!" Noya chimed. 

"M-Maybe we should actually get our results first, before we think about that." Asahi protested. The nurse seemed to agree with him as she lead them back into the testing room. 

The tests seemed to drag on for hours. They had done everything from take their blood, to separate them to put them back together only to separate them again and place them in machine after machine. There was no shortage of contraptions that were placed on their heads, arms, legs and even their ears. The questions they asked seemed never ending and ridiculous, despite the nurses assuring them that they were "very" important. By the end of it all they were exhausted, hungry and aching. Nishinoya crankiness from having to skip lunch was finally starting to show. 

"Are we done yet?" The shorter boy huffed when they finally stuck them back together again. 

"I think so." 

A few minutes went by and finally the nurse came back with a folder containing all of their results. 

"Thank you for being patient with our staff," the nurse bowed slightly in apology, "we're sorry the testing took so long. Your case is actually a bit more complex than we thought it would be." 

"It is?" Both boys mumbled. 

The nurse nodded and opened up the folder, taking out a few pieces of paper and handing them to both boys. 

"As you can see here…"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The art of cliffhangers
> 
> Note: the next chapter is going to be very medical/science heavy (at least while I'm having the results explained) and hopefully there will be food and fluff


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asahi and Nishinoya finally get their results!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: this chapter contains long blocks of science-y dialogue that might not make a lot of sense.

"As you can see here, we took multiple scans of your brains in order to fully determine what was going on. These two pictures were taken while you two were in separate rooms.” The nurse explained, pointing at two pictures that she had stuck onto a lightbox, “and these two were taken when you guys were in the same room.” 

Asahi and Nishinoya stared at the different sets of pictures. The first set was almost completely black and white, save for the small dots of yellow and pink outlining certain parts of their brains. The second set was completely filled with color. Bright yellows and pinks and reds encapsulated the images, but it would probably be more shocking if the two actually knew what the images meant. 

“Surprisingly,” the nurse went on, sticking up two more images on the lightbox, “These two were taken while you were one room away from each other.” 

The two new images had more colors than the first, but not quite as many as the second. It was like a middle ground between the two sets. 

"So what does this all mean?" Asahi finally asked. 

"Well typically what we see with most soulmates is consistent brain scans. Every scan, regardless of how far apart you are, contains nearly exact colorization, mostly due to the presence of the SPM gene, however your colorization seems to rely on distance." 

The two boys stared at her, still extremely confused. Science wasn't exactly their strong suit, despite Asahi taking plenty of science classes throughout college.

"SPM stands for sugar phosphate mutation and it's actually quite a common mutation seen in plenty of people across the world. It's when part of your DNA doesn't quite replicate properly and a section of the sugar phosphate is curving inward toward the nitrogen bases. This causes the DNA to be read incorrectly and this causes a wide variety of different mutations." 

"Ohhhh," Asahi said, seeming to understand what the nurse was talking about. "Wait a minute. If it's such a common mutation then why does it seem so rare? And how is it related to soulmates?" 

"The soulmate system in general relies on a variety of hormones and pheromones that are released upon meeting your soulmate. The signature signs of a soulmate couple are these" the nurse pointed to the first set of brain scans, that were dotted with yellow. "These yellow dots are sections of your brains that are constantly producing, what we like to call, the soulmate recognition hormone. One unique thing this hormone does is recognize and link your DNA to your soulmates DNA, through the act of kissing. Once your DNA is properly linked, you'll typically be more in tune and closer to your soulmate. However, the SPM gene takes this closeness to an entirely new level." 

"Typically SPM genes stay dormant and are never an issue, however, soulmates that have SPM genes in similar locations within their DNA are at risk for activating what we call an SPM takeover. The gene not only corrupts that section of your DNA but also creates links between itself and different parts of your brain. This can cause a wide variety of different issues such as shared emotions, telepathy, digestive issues, heart problems, ocular issues and more. SPM progression is when the mutation begins to spread down the line of DNA. A couple who originally had matching soulmate marks could progress to having matching tattoos, bruises and even contracting certain skin diseases from one another without ever touching each other." 

"So what's the final verdict, doc?" Nishinoya asked rather bluntly. He was getting tired of all the complicated science mumbo jumbo. 

"The final verdict is that you two do have an activated SPM gene takeover, located in the section of your DNA that's responsible for emotion and pheromone activation. According to our records, it's actually located right in the center of both regions and is taking over both of them, which is rather interesting. Pheromone activation explains why your abilities seem to be distance based." The nurse explained. 

"What about the progression stuff?" 

"It turns out, your abilities actually aren't progressing. The SPM gene is slowly creating stronger links between itself and your brains, however it's not moving down your DNA line which means you two should be fine." 

"Are stronger links a bad thing?" Asahi asked, nervously. 

"Not necessarily," the nurse replied, "there may be a point where your pheromones get too strong and end up distracting one another but that's very unlikely and if for some reason it does occur, you can always purchase pheromone suppressants or try to mask them in some way." 

Asahi nodded thoughtfully. Both boys thanked the nurse and the rest of the lab staff before gathering all of their stuff and leaving. The nurse let them keep copies of their brain scans (mostly because Nishinoya thought they looked cool) and gave them a record of their tests and diagnosis. 

A wave of relief seemed to wash over the both of them as soon as they left. After all the worrying and anxiety and stress, they finally figured out what was wrong with them. And even better than that, was that they would be ok. 

"Hey Asahi-Chan," Nishinoya mumbled softly, once they were headed back to their hotel. 

"Hm?" 

"Do you think we could get food on the way back?" 

"God yes!" Asahi replied, "that took forever. I'm starving… I'm glad we'll be ok though." 

"I am too."


End file.
